Steve, reading the details that you now have of this horror story, it seems clear that although you can replace damaged drivers or an entire speaker, you can't replace your and your wife's lost hearing. Since obviously she doesn't do this, allow me the liberty of yelling at you: "turn the damn thing down!" Seriously, you should use a SPL meter to monitor the levels that you use. "I like it loud" isn't(or at least shouldn't be)an acceptable standard for determining safe sound settings.

The amplifier in your 7200 is quite powerful and the 100 watt rating is a typically conservative one from HK. A quick search found these lab measurement numbers for the essentially identical amplifier in the 7300. You don't need a new receiver or, except for replacing the damaged items, new speakers. Yes, it's unusual that only the mid-woofers in the VP150 would be affected, since the far more delicate tweeter voice coils typically are damaged first. Also it seems that the M22s would have been damaged at that time.

I'll again mention the possibility of using an M2 center, which can do an excellent job at typical listening distances and safe sound levels. See for example Dan's M2 vs VP150 report .

John, the last bit of information that i just realized that we do not have is, what audio processing mode the receiver was set to. If it was dolby pro logic, or any of the dolby settings, the majority of the "music" would have been coming from the center not the M22's. If the receiver was set to stereo/enhanced stereo, or 6 channel stereo, then the L/R/ all channels would have received the same signal. Without this information we can not make the assumption that the M22's made it though, maybe they weren't receiving much of a signal during said incident.

Also, An SLP meter will not work when a wife knows where the "volume knob" is... Hawk, there should be a "volume limit" option in the settings of the receiver, this will limit the max output, so if the wife wants to "turn it up" you can control how much she gets.

The next question would be. How often does your wife has these "parties"? and do you expect her to continue having these "parties". if either of those answers is often/yes, then i say get bigger speakers as Alan said... I would say buy bigger speakers, run them off of the receiver that you already own, see if they are loud enough for you and the wife. It is possible that with larger speakers you will get more output for your given amount of power, so you may not need more power (aka external amp), as John said your receiver is rated for 100W.

Yet another option would be, if your receiver has 2 zones buy some Algonquins to install outside where the wife had/has her party/parties, this way she can play those speakers, rather than the "inside" speakers. You will have to ensure that she understands why and is willing to do this though. Under this scenario, i would be willing to agree with Johns recommendation.

P.S. a quick look at that painfully long instruction manual says your receiver does have 2 zones (john, i feel for you reading through those things!!), with assignable amplifier channels. So the Algonquin idea would work for you.

Alex, I didn't follow the comment re the center speaker getting the majority of the music. I use DPLII or similar at all times with music. The mains keep the in-phase content and a portion of it which is about equal in level in the two channels is also sent to the center speaker for a more anchored center image. The out-of-phase material which represents surround ambience is extracted from the main channels and sent to the surrounds. The center speaker carries far less than a majority of the total music content.

Like you, John, I've always disagreed with the notion that the center gets most of the energy. I don't know where this myth started. With movies, the center channel carries dialogue and on-screen sound effects, which of course can be high-energy in blockbuster type movies. With music playback in DD 5.1 ( and DPLII and its variants), the center carries vocals, and some part of an orchestra or band that's centrally located, or solo instruments. But with both movies and music, a great deal of the orchestra/band is mixed to the front left and right and even some to the surrounds.

Lots of good suggestions, including using zone 2 for a a pair of outdoor speakers on the side of Hawk's house where the partying occurs.

I, too, have shouted to "turn the damn thing down" John, but I don't think you allow for the frailties of people who love music when they're stoned or boozing; look at the absurd volume levels used in dance clubs and concerts where everyone is high.

Get a portable sound dock for your wife that she can lug outside with her MP3 player, CD's. Very easy for her to setup, won't need to fiddle your main system and it will provide her music at her finger tips. A sound dock would be able to provide sufficient loudness levels (avoid Bose though, which suffers from noticeable compression at higher levels) at her parties since she can setup directly were she is entertaining and can move it around if the guests go to a different area or to a room inside.

It will be her own little toy and I bet she will love it.

_________________________
I’m armed and I’m drinking. You don’t want to listen to advice from me, amigo.

Good call - or look into a distributed audio setup such as Sonos, Squeezebox, Airport Express etc... to get music wherever you want it easily.

Does anyone here presently use Sonos or Squeezebox?I've read alot of good things about Sonos but was leaning towards the Squeezebox idea since i may be considering a shared video option for our home offices as well.

_________________________"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."